The City of Waupaca, located in Central Wisconsin, seeks to serve its residents through an expansion of its existing Recreation Center. This expansion will encompass a Business Service Center tailored for remote workers and business owners, in addition to offering telehealth services to patrons. This initiative has been supported by a $4.1 million grant from the Flexible Facilities Program to revitalize the existing property and expand the recreation center to provide access to work, education, and health services through improved infrastructure.
With the architectural plans in place and the deadline for breaking ground approaching, it was crucial to identify the unmet needs of the Waupaca community
and create research-based recommendations to best serve potential users of the Business Service Center. In order to determine key technological resources, furnishing needs, and program offerings, the team conducted secondary research on similar co-working spaces in other cities, and developed two surveys to generate community feedback. In essence, the intended outcome was to enhance the resources available to the Waupaca community ensuring that the new space not only reflected the diverse needs of all potential users, but was also flexible enough to evolve with any future objective.
Contact: UniverCityAlliance@wisc.edu